To ensure enough food for American service members and civilians, the U.S. government promoted home gardening as a patriotic gesture that would also support those on the home front contending with food rationing.
During World War I and World War II, gardening took on a distinctly martial air. Citizens were encouraged to grow their own backyard produce (dubbed “war gardens” in WWI and “victory gardens” in WWII, which shows how far the art of positive spin had progressed in just a few decades). At the same time, food rationing was in effect domestically to support overseas troops — “An army marches on its stomach,” goes the quote by Napoleon Bonaparte — and citizens were encouraged to think carefully about food waste and watching what they ate.
“It gave everyone a sense of contributing to the war effort, sometimes in the most minuscule ways,” Dr. Paul Ruffin, Distinguished Professor of English at Texas State University, who has written about victory gardens, told Modern Farmer. “If they could grow a few vegetables, even just to feed their family, that meant they weren’t taking away from national resources. And in many cases, they would grow a sufficient quantity of vegetables they could contribute directly to the war effort.”
Culled from the Library of Congress, here are some of our favorite food posters from that era.
During World War I and World War II, gardening took on a distinctly martial air. Citizens were encouraged to grow their own backyard produce (dubbed “war gardens” in WWI and “victory gardens” in WWII, which shows how far the art of positive spin had progressed in just a few decades). At the same time, food rationing was in effect domestically to support overseas troops — “An army marches on its stomach,” goes the quote by Napoleon Bonaparte — and citizens were encouraged to think carefully about food waste and watching what they ate.
“It gave everyone a sense of contributing to the war effort, sometimes in the most minuscule ways,” Dr. Paul Ruffin, Distinguished Professor of English at Texas State University, who has written about victory gardens, told Modern Farmer. “If they could grow a few vegetables, even just to feed their family, that meant they weren’t taking away from national resources. And in many cases, they would grow a sufficient quantity of vegetables they could contribute directly to the war effort.”
Culled from the Library of Congress, here are some of our favorite food posters from that era.
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